Five police officers attached to “C” Division have been arrested by the Plateau State Police Command for allegedly shooting a 17-year-old boy, Ibuchim Ofezie, to death in Jos.
This was contained in a statement by the command’s spokesman, DSP Alfred Alabo.
The incident occurred when police operatives started shooting after they stormed the Terminus market while enforcing the ban on commercial motorcycles in the state.
In the process, a stray bullet hit Ofezie, who was sitting in his shop at the market.
The statement said, “The command condemned the killing of one Mr Ibuchim Ofezie, a resident of Agingi Community of Bassa Local Government Area, by some obdurate police patrol operatives attached to our “C” Division.
“The Police Commissioner, who described the incident as a paradox, asserted that police officers are empowered by law to bear firearms to protect the lives of the citizenry and not to take lives with them.
“In order to ensure that the erring patrol team does not evade justice, the commissioner has immediately ordered their arrest.
“The five personnel in the patrol team have been arrested and are currently being investigated at our Homicide Section of the Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the command.”
Alabo, while stating that the commissioner assured the family and friends of the deceased and indeed Plateau residents in general of thorough investigation and justice, promised that the outcome would be made public.